Below is a comment sent to this blog in recent days. It is also posted under the obit to Tom Brodie.
It appears as it could easily be missed and it is worth a read. It is a pity the writer does not give their name. I can imagine a number of Dominicans will know who it is and I believe I too know the writer.
"Like Tom Brodie, I too was born in 1940 agus leis céil ordained July 10, 1966 at Clonliffe College chapel on Clonliffe Road, Drumcondra. I knew him very well as a dedicated and diligent fellow-student and subsequently on the Trinidad mission, where he was energetic and enthusiastic in unfurling the riches of Sacred Scripture for his students at the Seminary of St John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain.
“That he was summarily dismissed from the Order by 'a committee of experts' has me thinking; they (the committee) may have taken Ronald Knox's 'Enthusiasm' a little too much to heart.
"I remember Knox's book and his characterisation of heresy as ‘enthusiasm' from the time it was read aloud in the Tallaght Priory refectory during meals in the 1960s - as was the practice then.
"I value the previous comment by Mary D Hudson: 'Then I lost track of him. I’m so grateful to learn his last years were not spent alone.'
1 comment:
In fairness to all involved: it is not correct that Tom Brodie was 'summarily dismissed' from the Order by a 'committee of experts'. On the publication of his book there were conversations between Tom and at least two commissions of the brothers. One was appointed by the Irish province and when it found against his book he appealed to the Master of the Order, as was his right. The Master established another, international, commission to review the situation and the decision of the Irish province. That commission also found against Tom's book, judging the views it put forward to be unfounded. The same judgement came from the theologians and biblical scholars who contributed to a special issue of Doctrine & Life which considered his arguments. Neither commission had the authority, nor did either attempt, to dismiss Tom from the Order. It is true that he could no longer preach or teach in the name of the Order or of the Church and he decided then to request laicisation. But he was not dismissed from the Order, nothing was done 'summarily', and 'committees of experts' were not involved at any stage with the question of his membership of the Order.
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